


bucky's first day back

by izzimb



Series: winterwidow izzi vs winterwidow saheli [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, bucky's first mission back in action, buckynat - Freeform, buckynat argument, but he's not ready, he's ready, i think i'm hilarious, if you look past the battle, it's adorable i swear, it's cute really, or within it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzimb/pseuds/izzimb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky's first mission back in involves plenty of bad guys to shoot down. Natasha's there to keep watch, but he decides to go on his own 'cause "he's got it". Sure, Buck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bucky's first day back

**Author's Note:**

> inspired partially by the following posts:  
> (http://agenttripplett.tumblr.com/post/118665859114)  
> (http://agenttripplett.tumblr.com/post/119335716314)

"Are you serious?" Bucky slams the metal fist into an approaching attacker. He flies back, gun twirling in the air and into Bucky's hand.  He fires toward the perp without looking, reducing the latter to a fresh corpse. "I said I had them!"

"Oh yeah?" Nat pauses to raise an eyebrow before launching herself into a flip from the hood of a nearby car to swipe-kick three masked men. "I told you to call me!" Two rounds from each of her handguns stop two men some yards behind Bucky.

He throws his hands in the air in exasperation. "Stop taking mine!" 

Bucky grabs the ramp rail and throws his legs over it, spinning 180° on his way down. Natasha runs to the side to watch him. He faces oncoming traffic with his weaponized arm outstretched. It shoots off two miniaturized missiles under the bride. A small boom and brisk wave of heat signal the explosion of an enemy transport. He steps to the side as the truck flips onto his nose and lands on its tented top.

"Go! Go get your own, dammit!" Bucky frantically waves an arm in multiple directions to signal Natasha away.

She picks up a rifle beside her feet. She shoots five times, four times for the four who jump out of the burning truck and once for the grenade in the hand of one crawling out of the tent. It explodes, taking him out and the few beside him.

« _You're kidding me!_ » Bucky swears toxic Russian before running off between trucks and stalled cars.

Natasha rolls her eyes and puts a hand to her ear. "Clint, air support. We're two clicks down from base and Panda thinks he doesn't need help."

" _I do not_ ," roars over the comms before a loud explosion. "I told you, I'm  _fine_."

"Nat, I need confirmation on air support."

" _Codes_!" yelled Steve. "We made these damn codes for a reason!"

"I'm not about to call Clint  _Peeta_ , thank you, Steve."

"We'll talk about this later. Where are you?"

"On the bridge. I'm two blocks away from a hospital but if Bucky keeps running forward, he's going to let too many people behind him. How long 'til air support?"

« _Natalia, I do not need the damn air support._ »

Several voices chuckled. 

"I'm five blocks away. Can you hold him down?"

"Goddammit, Steve."

Natasha jumps a few cars and runs toward a Humvee. She rolls and serpentines between the spray of bullets. She runs and shoots the rifle at the scattered number of men running toward her from behind buildings. Bullets reach her feet. Her eyes flick up to a window at a manned sniper rifle.

"Stark--"

"Yeah. On it." Whirring repulsors launch Tony into the air above Natasha.

From behind a car, a man leaps toward Natasha. He grabs her wrist and forces her to bend. She turns her back to the man, jamming an elbow into his diaphragm. He coughs violently; Nat reaches her arms back around his helmet and throws herself up and then down quickly. His body flips over her shoulder with little resistance. He lands on his back with a crack.

"Above you," Tony says.

She grabs his proffered hand and the suit's arms wrap around her torso.

"Where to?"

Nat points to her right. "Drop me next to Bucky."

"Yes, ma'am. Airlift in 10. Rendezvous at the fountain."

"You got it."

Nat tucks herself into a roll and stands back-to-back with Bucky.

"For the love of  _God_ , you don't trust me, do you?"

"It's not that I don't trust you," Nat sighs, firing at guns afoot with her dual-wield pistols. "It's that you need help and you won't say it."

"I'm doing perfectly fine,  _Natasha_." Bucky's arm releases three more missiles that land at the feet of oncoming guns. He sweeps them down with his pistol.

"You're not, Buck. Seriously. You're being messy. I do hate it when you're being messy. Ammo."

" _I'M NOT BEING MESSY_ ," he yells, tossing a magazine over his head.

Natasha drops the empty case and clicks the new one in. "You are too, dear."

Bucky and Natasha take slow steps away from each other, facing the hordes of attackers. The skyscraping buildings around them provided good  _enough_  cover for infantry but once they started emerging, they were shot down row by row by the assassins. Natasha runs forward, tossing Taser discs to the ankles of two already-bleeding men. They collapse to the ground with violent tremors. She shoots quickly, mechanically. A quinjet zooms overhead, mowing down another wave of men with a below-deck machine gun.

Steve's voice booms out of the speakers. "All aboard, guys, we've got clearance for air strike." 

"Bucky, let's go!"

Bucky waves her off without turning around. "I've got them, Nat, go!" His voice is muffled from his mask but is clearly exhausted.

"This isn't retreat, Barnes, this is evac. Move it, soldier." Steve uses a firm voice against Barnes, who seems too focused to notice.

"I can do this!" he yells again.

"Shit," Nat mutters. "Cap, move in."

The jet slowly descends and hovers above the two. The ramp door opens with Cap at the top. 

"Nat, we gotta go!"

"I'm working on it, Rogers.  _Barnes, we need to move out_."

"I can do this!" Bucky shouted, moving further into the space between the Avengers and the attackers. "I can do it!" His voice falters.

Natasha looks back at Cap. "Bring Jill in."

Cap looks back into the cabin. Wanda steps forward, eyes focused fiercely on Bucky. Her fingers twist and arms raise. Bucky's balance suddenly veers. His legs betray his will, buckling beneath him. Cap jumps down and grabs the straps of the distressed man's vest.

"Barnes, stand down."

He fires wildly at the ground. Natasha jumps up, kicking the gun from his hand. She grabs his leg as Cap jumps onto the re-ascending jet. Natasha and Bucky are thrown onto the deck of the plane. Wanda catches Nat's arms; the latter wraps her legs around Bucky's torso until Steve grabs him and drops him into the seat against the wall. The redhead and blond jump forward to buckle and tighten the straps around his body, restraining him to the wall. Cap waves to Clint, who puts the aircraft into full throttle. Nat, Wanda, and Steve hold the canvas nets above them to keep their balance. The city behind them collapses into rubble under fire from S.H.I.E.L.D air strike.

Bucky thrashes wildly against the seat belts. "I had them! I had them! Steve, I had them!"

Steve kneels in front of the dazed soldier. "Hey, Buck, we got them."

Nat touches his shoulder. "I got it."

"Alright, Nat. You done good, Buck." He slaps his head affectionately, momentarily jostling his focus.

Natasha waves Wanda away. She straps herself into the seat to the right of the still-thrashing Bucky. She touches his shoulder, then his neck, then his forearm. His back-and-forth jerking slows until he heaves deeply and slumps backward. 

«Well done, James,» she murmurs.

«Unfinished...I had them...mission...I had them...unfinished.» Bucky's raw voice alternates from Russian to English and back.

Natasha lays her head on his shoulder, lifting her chin to put her lips level with his ear. "Come back to me, sweet."

"Nata...?" Bucky's voice trembles. "Nata..."

"Good job, James. Come back to me."

Her hand rests upon his knee. She bounces her hand lightly, then rubs a small circle into the rough fabric. Slowly, Bucky's voice fades to a soft whisper of protest. She murmurs encouragement into his ear. 

Minutes later, the passengers of the quinjet are mostly silent, except for soft chatter in the cabin. Steve walks back and seats himself beside Bucky. He bumps him softly.

"On your left, Buck."

"I was not being fucking messy," he grunted.

Nat almost laughs but allows a soft grin. "You were. Spraying instead of shooting. Grenades instead of calculated shots. You were a mess."

Bucky crosses his arms. "Was not."

"You were, Buck, she's right."

"More training for you," Natasha muses.

"I told you I had them. You could have moved forward that first wave."

"Yeah, and I told you to call me. You were wrong."

"You were wrong first."

"Bucky, you were sloppy and uncalculated. You missed almost 40% of your shots."

"Natalia, all you ever do is nag me." Bucky chuckles and untucks his hands, looking at them in his lap. "Sloppy?"

"Like your room in '62."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

From the cabin, Clint lets out a frustrated half-wail, half-groan that sounded vaguely like, " _For the love of all things good, just fucking fuck._ "


End file.
